Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The readings for this Sunday are about our perseverance in our living faith. This means we need to be persistent and continue praying without stopping. This also means that when we sart something we need to finish it to theend
Our Living faith includes worshiping the Lord to continously struggle to inherit the salvation that we have received through Jesus Christ and to continuously be concerned for the salvation of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Such is persevering in our living faith.
Last Sunday's first reading told us about a visit Abraham had from three strangers. Abraham provided a feast for them and as it turned out one of the three visitors was God himself. God was on his ay to to cities near the Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, and he invited Abraham to go with him. On the way God took Abraham into his confidence and told him the cities were about to be destroyed because of their immorality. Abraham being troubled by the idea of the innocent being punished along with the guilty, he begins to bargain with God. The story highlights the imporance of intercessory prayer, and reveals a lot about the mercy of God. This conversation with God we would also call a living faith in God. Abraham feared the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord and was obedient to Him.
In his faithfulness to the Lord, he was also concerned for those who lived in his environment. We read today that Abraham was concerned that God would destroy Sodom if fifty righteous sould were not found within the city. On behalf of a lesser number of righteous souls, even ten, Abraham obtained God's conditional promise that He would not destroy the city. Unfortunately, as history rells us, ten righteous persons could not be found and the city was destroyed by God.
The Second Reading reminds us of the need to persevere in our living faith in Christ. It reminds us to live our lives in Jesus, rooted and built up in HIm and established in the faith, just as we were taught, flourishing in thanksgiving.
Only in our Lord Jesus is found the mystery of the fullness of salvation. When we were buried with Christ in baptism, we were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Him, When God forgave us all our trespasses.
In the Gospel, Luke reminds us of the necessit to presevere in our prayer life. Our prayer life is a reflection of our true faith in God. If we truly have come to know Jesus in faith, then this spiritual encounter has created a growing bond between personal relationship in the fullness of the Blessed Trinity, the Father and the Holy Spirit being revealed to us through Jesus Christ.
To emphasize the importance of persevering in prayer, Jesus gave the story of a friend who arrived at midnight and the necessity to go next door to one's neighbor to borrow three loave of bread. Jesus concluded His story by saying that "because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs" It is because no one in the neighbor's family will be able to sleep in peace unless the loaves of bread are provided.
Jesus concluded His teaching by saying that if you ask, it will be given to you; if you search, youl will find; and if you knock, the door will be opened to you. While there is no assurance that you will suddenly receive what you ask, by persevering in our request, sooner or later, the Lord will answer our prayers. This is persevering in the living faith.
G God bless all of us.
Fr. Dariusz
